Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to develop the county enterprise board investment programmes in the BMW region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18721/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are 13 county enterprise boards operating in the BMW region. These boards deliver the micro-enterprise measure under the BMW regional operational programme 2000-06. The specific types of county enterprise board, CEB, assistance available to micro-enterprise from the measure is broken down between: measure 1 project support expenditure, including grants for feasibility studies, employment grants and capital grants; and measure 2 soft supports activities such as business advice, management and e-commerce training, enterprise education and programmes aimed at assisting and promoting women in business.

I have allocated total Exchequer funding of over €10.8 million to the CEBs in the BMW region for the current year. This represents an increase of nearly 7% on the 2004 allocation. The CEBs apply this funding to fund their activities in support of micro-enterprise, that is businesses with less than ten employees. Their function is to develop indigenous enterprise potential and to stimulate economic activity at local level. In providing support to enterprises, the CEBs are required to have regard to the quality, local relevance, cost effectiveness and viability of proposals. They must also seek to avoid supporting projects that would displace existing jobs or businesses. In this regard, the boards are required to give priority to manufacturing and internationally traded services companies, which over time may develop into strong export entities.

I am satisfied that the level of funding provided is sufficient to ensure that boards should be in a position to provide an appropriate level of assistance to any good quality projects that present.